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Nunc Dimittis (short Story)
"Nunc Dimittis" is a short story by Roald Dahl. It was first published under the title "The Devious Bachelor" in '' Colliers'' in September 1953. The story is wholly told from the first-person perspective. Plot summary Lionel Lampson, a wealthy middle-aged bachelor and art collector, learns from a gossipy widow, Gladys Ponsonby, that his younger girlfriend Janet de Pelagia thinks of him, among other things, as a "crashing bore". Lionel is scandalised and devises an elaborate revenge. He approaches a local artist, John Royden, and asks him to paint Janet's portrait with the stipulation that she does not know who has commissioned it. Gladys had confided in Lionel that Royden has an unusual method: he paints his female subjects first nude, and then repaints the canvas several times, adding each layer of clothing one stage at a time. When the portrait is completed, Lionel (who is skilled at restoring and cleaning paintings) removes the additional layers of paint, exposing Janet in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century". Dahl was born in Wales to affluent Norwegian immigrant parents, and spent most of his life in England. He served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He became a fighter pilot and, subsequently, an intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for children and for adults, and he became one of the world's best-selling authors. His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the British Book Awards' Children's Author of the Year in 1990. Dahl and his work have been criticised for racial stereotypes, misogyny ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collier's
''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collier's: The National Weekly'' and eventually to simply ''Collier's''. The magazine ceased publication with the issue dated the week ending January 4, 1957, although a brief, failed attempt was made to revive the Collier's name with a new magazine in 2012. As a result of Peter Collier's pioneering investigative journalism, ''Collier's'' established a reputation as a proponent of social reform. After lawsuits by several companies against ''Collier's'' ended in failure, other magazines joined in what Theodore Roosevelt described as " muckraking journalism." Sponsored by Nathan S. Collier (a descendant of Peter Collier), the Collier Prize for State Government Accountability was created in 2019. The annual US$25,000 prize is one of the la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest types of literature and has existed in the form of legends, mythic tales, folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, fables and anecdotes in various ancient communities around the world. The modern short story developed in the early 19th century. Definition The short story is a crafted form in its own right. Short stories make use of plot, resonance, and other dynamic components as in a novel, but typically to a lesser degree. While the short story is largely distinct from the novel or novella/short novel, authors generally draw from a common pool of literary techniques. The short story is sometimes referred to as a genre. Determining what exactly defines a short story has been recurrently problematic. A classic definition of a short ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collier's Weekly
''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collier's: The National Weekly'' and eventually to simply ''Collier's''. The magazine ceased publication with the issue dated the week ending January 4, 1957, although a brief, failed attempt was made to revive the Collier's name with a new magazine in 2012. As a result of Peter Collier's pioneering investigative journalism, ''Collier's'' established a reputation as a proponent of social reform. After lawsuits by several companies against ''Collier's'' ended in failure, other magazines joined in what Theodore Roosevelt described as " muckraking journalism." Sponsored by Nathan S. Collier (a descendant of Peter Collier), the Collier Prize for State Government Accountability was created in 2019. The annual US$25,000 prize is one of the larg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1953 In Literature
Events from the year 1953 in literature . Events *January 5 – '' Waiting For Godot'', a play by the Irish writer Samuel Beckett, has its first public stage performance, in French as ''En attendant Godot'', at the in Paris. Beckett's novel '' The Unnamable'' is also published in French this year. * January 22 – ''The Crucible'', a historical drama by Arthur Miller written as an allegory of McCarthyism, opens on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre. * February 19 – The State of Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States. * April 13 – The face of popular literature changes with the publication of Ian Fleming's novel '' Casino Royale'', introducing the British spy character James Bond. *May – The semi-autobiographical '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' by James Baldwin is published. In 2001, it will be named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editors of the American Modern Library. *June 17 – Bert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First-person Perspective
A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller, first-person witness, or first-person peripheral. A classic example of a first-person protagonist narrator is Charlotte Brontë's ''Jane Eyre'' (1847), in which the title character is also the narrator telling her own story, "I could not unlove him now, merely because I found that he had ceased to notice me". This device allows the audience to see the narrator's mind's eye view of the fictional universe, but it is limited to the narrator's experiences and awareness of the true state of affairs. In some stories, first-person narrators may relay dialogue with other characters or refer to information they heard from the other characters, in order to try to deliver a larger point of view. Other stories may switch the narrator to different ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caviar
Caviar (also known as caviare; from fa, خاویار, khâvyâr, egg-bearing) is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread. Traditionally, the term caviar refers only to roe from wild sturgeon in the Caspian Sea and Black Sea ( Beluga, Ossetra and Sevruga caviars). The term caviar can also describe the roe of other species of sturgeon or other fish such as paddlefish, salmon, steelhead, trout, lumpfish, whitefish, or carp. The roe can be "fresh" (non-pasteurized) or pasteurized, with pasteurization reducing its culinary and economic value. Terminology According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, roe from any fish not belonging to the Acipenseriformes order (including Acipenseridae, or sturgeon ''sensu stricto'', and Polyodontidae or paddlefish) are not caviar, but "substitutes of caviar." This position is also adopted by the Convention on Internation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tales Of The Unexpected (TV Series)
''Tales of the Unexpected (Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected)'' is a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988. Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending. Every episode of series one, eight episodes of series two, and one episode of series three were based on short stories by Roald Dahl collected in the books '' Tales of the Unexpected'', ''Kiss Kiss'', and '' Someone Like You''. The series was made by Anglia Television for ITV with interior scenes recorded at their Norwich studios, whilst location filming mainly occurred across East Anglia. The theme music for the series was written by composer Ron Grainer. The dancer in all episodes was Karen Standley. Format The series originally adapted various stories from Roald Dahl's anthology books. Despite being produced on a low budget, the series attracted notable guest stars, including Susan George, Siân Phillips, José Ferrer, Joseph C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Stories By Roald Dahl
Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as the Short Arts, entertainment, and media * Short film, a cinema format (also called film short or short subject) * Short story, prose generally readable in one sitting * '' The Short-Timers'', a 1979 semi-autobiographical novel by Gustav Hasford, about military short-timers in Vietnam Brands and enterprises * Short Brothers, a British aerospace company * Short Brothers of Sunderland, former English shipbuilder Computing and technology * Short circuit, an accidental connection between two nodes of an electrical circuit * Short integer, a computer datatype Finance * Short (finance), stock-trading position * Short snorter, a banknote signed by fellow travelers, common during World War II Foodstuffs * Short pastry, one which is rich in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1953 Short Stories
Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugoslavia. ** The CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel first meets to discuss the UFO phenomenon. * January 15 – Georg Dertinger, foreign minister of East Germany, is arrested for spying. * January 19 – 71.1% of all television sets in the United States are tuned into '' I Love Lucy'', to watch Lucy give birth to Little Ricky, which is more people than those who tune into Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration the next day. This record has yet to be broken. * January 20 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is sworn in as the 34th President of the United States. * January 24 ** Mau Mau Uprising: Rebels in Kenya kill the Ruck family (father, mother, and six-year-old son). ** Leader of East Germany Walter Ulbricht announces that agriculture will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
